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Sturgeon case now tangled in state’s rights and Native rights

Suzanne Downing
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Sturgeon case now tangled in state’s rights and Native rights
WALKER WADES IN TO CHANGE ANILCA
The Walker Administration has joined the Alaska Federation of Natives to advocate for amendments to historic Alaska land claims laws that would weaken state sovereignty, according to the Alaska Outdoor Council, which is opposing the move.
On Monday, AOC Executive Director Rod Arno urged Sen. Lisa Murkowski to reject that effort.
In a letter to Alaska’s senior senator, the outdoors group said that Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth is seeking to usurp the State of Alaska’s authority over fish and game management and allocation.
Arno advised Murkowski not to insert the governor’s requested amendments into the omnibus spending bill now being considered by the Senate.
The proposed changes by the Walker Administration through his attorney are facing a Friday deadline.
The case is complex, and a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision makes it more so. To resolve it, Murkowski has been asked by Lindemuth, as well as AFN President Julie Kitka, and the attorney for hunter John Sturgeon, to amend the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act, known as ANILCA.
Sturgeon and the Alaska Outdoor Council have been on the same side of Sturgeon’s case for years, since he was stopped by the National Park Service from navigating the Nation’s River to reach his hunting spot.
Sturgeon has been fighting since then against federal overreach in a case that has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court, only to be partially bounced back to the Ninth Circuit Court, where he was again denied the right to use an hovercraft on the river system. The argument is over whether the state or federal government controls activity on the water inside the National Park Service’s boundaries.
According to the Outdoor Council, the proposed amendment (attached) if passed into statute would:
  • Satisfy Sturgeon’s claim against the federal government by clarifying state management of navigable waters regardless of whether those waters were inside the National Park Service exterior boundary.
  •  Allow Alaska native regional and village corporations more control over development on 18 million acres of lands acquired in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement (ANCSA) that are within the boundaries of federal Conservation System Units (CSU) created by ANILCA.
  • Give the State of Alaska nothing, but strip away state management and allocation of fish and game on around 63 percent of the state, not counting all waters. By proposing that subsistence management regulations created by the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture be written into federal statute, the State of Alaska capitulates to federal management on over half of the state’s land and the majority of it waters. The FSB allocates fish and game only to rural residents of Alaska, not to all of Alaska’s population as our state constitution requires.
“Getting standing to challenge these regulations in federal court has been exceedingly difficult,” Arno said. “Challenging statute law adopted by the U.S. Congress, confirming that the Dept. of the Interior will remain the managers of fish and game, would be virtually impossible. Seems an issue of such great importance should have some public debate prior to being submitted as a rider on an appropriations bill.”
Evidently that is not how the governor sees it, because in October he said he would do everything in his power to protect state’s rights.
WORDING OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO ANILCA

The cause for AOC’s concern comes from a Feb. 26 letter that the governor sent to Murkowski, asking for changes in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, ANILCA.

The attached wording that would change ANILCA is copied below:

ANILCA 103(c)

Existing Law

(c) Only those lands within the boundaries of any conservation system unit which are public lands (as such term is defined in this Act) shall be deemed to be included as a portion of such unit. No lands which, before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act, are conveyed to the State, to any Native Corporation, or to any private party shall be subject to the regulations applicable solely to public lands within such units. If the State, a Native Corporation, or other owner desires to convey any such lands, the Secretary may acquire such lands in accordance with applicable law (including this Act), and any such lands shall become part of the unit, and be administered accordingly.

Amendment

(c) Only those lands within the boundaries of any conservation system unit which are public lands (as such term is defined in this Act) shall be deemed to be included as a portion of such unit.  Except as provided in this section, the Secretary’s regulations adopted to administer public lands shall not apply to lands, including submerged lands, owned by the State, any Native Corporation, or any private party, or to navigable waters flowing over such lands.  No lands which, before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act, are conveyed to the State, to any Native Corporation, or to any private party shall be subject to the regulations applicable solely to public lands within such units.  If the State, a Native Corporation, or other owner desires to convey any such lands, the Secretary may acquire such lands in accordance with applicable law (including this Act), and any such lands shall become part of the unit, and be administered accordingly.  Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to limit the Secretary’s authority under Title VIII to protect and provide the opportunity for continued subsistence uses, and to implement the subsistence priority, in the waters identified in 50 C.F.R. § 100.3 (2018), which authority is hereby reconfirmed.

[Read another report on this at CraigMedred.news]

Vitamin D: House minority challenges $500K study

Suzanne Downing
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Vitamin D: House minority challenges $500K study

LIBERAL MAJORITY WINS ANOTHER ROUND

During the House floor discussion and debate over the operating budget on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Charisse Millett of Anchorage rose to challenge Finance Co-Chair Rep. Paul Seaton’s $500,000 item in the budget to fund a study on the benefits of Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is a pet concern for the Homer representative, who is a commercial fisherman. He addresses it often in his newsletters to constituents, has produced booklets for both senior citizens and children on the topic, and has a page devoted to it on his official web site. 

Seaton was one of three Republicans who broke with the Republican-led majority to stage a coup in 2017 with Democrats, and in exchange became the co-chair of Finance, in charge of producing the operating budget. Now is his chance to get that Vitamin D project he has long desired.

But Millett wasn’t going to let it go in without a fight.

“While I know that the maker of this section of the bill is a very big fan of Vitamin D, as we all are on the floor, since we’ve been taking it … since he’s been giving of us bottles of it…” Millett began.

She argued the money could be better spent battling the opioid crisis in Alaska, or reducing domestic violence, especially at a time when the State has little money to spare and while Democrats and the governor are talking about an income tax.

“A quick look through the internet, I think my staff came up with over 50 studies that have been done in other circumpolar countries on the value of Vitamin D,” she said. “This rises to the level of ‘I don’t think so,’ for me personally.”

Millett added that it was something that the private sector could fund. Others in the conservative minority rose to say that the federal government has not only the resources but the responsibility for public health studies of this type.

The New York Times has written about the Vitamin D craze. It seems that people are popping the pills in the belief that Vitamin D will “cure what ails you.”

According to the Times:

Millions of people are popping supplements in the belief that vitamin D can help turn back depression, fatigue, muscle weakness, even heart disease or cancer. In fact, there has never been widely accepted evidence that vitamin D is helpful in preventing or treating any of those conditions.

But so firm is this belief that vitamin D has become popular even among people with no particular medical complaints or disease risks. And they are being tested for vitamin D “deficiency” in ever greater numbers.

The number of blood tests for vitamin D levels among Medicarebeneficiaries, mostly people 65 and older, increased 83-fold from 2000 to 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among patients with commercial insurance, testing rates rose 2.5-fold from 2009 to 2014.

Labs performing these tests are reporting perfectly normal levels of vitamin D — 20 to 30 nanograms per milliliter of blood — as “insufficient.” As a consequence, millions of healthy people think they have a deficiency, and some are taking supplemental doses so high they can be dangerous, causing poor appetite, nausea and vomiting.

Vitamin D overdoses also can lead to weakness, frequent urination and kidney problems.

“A lot of clinicians are acting like there is a pandemic” of vitamin D deficiency, said Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, a preventive medicine researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who helped write an Institute of Medicine report on vitamin D. – New York Times.

“That gives them justification to screen everyone and get everyone well above what the Institute of Medicine recommends.”

Rep. Paul Seaton holds forth on his $500,000 Vitamin D study, which Republicans sought to remove from the operating budget.

REP. SADDLER GIVES SEATON A D IN SCIENCE

But Rep. Seaton is a fan of D and defended his line item, citing studies that show how Alaskans don’t get enough Vitamin D, and that there has been a rise in diseases, the cost of health care, and that he believes that to be a result of the lack of Vitamin D in the diets of Alaskans.

For 10 minutes he speculated that the increase in autism was possibly linked to the lack of the vitamin, and that Alaska’s high cost of health care may be linked to the lack of Vitamin D.

His remarks defending the $500,000 project included anecdotal stories about children with rickets, autism, and the benefits of a traditional subsistence diet.

Rep. Dan Saddler took the bait: In remarks informed by his personal experience of being a parent with a child with autism, he said, “We’re being offered what I believe is the cruel fiction that more Vitamin D might prevent autism.”

Debating the science of Vitamin D on the House floor is inappropriate, Saddler added, and before throwing a rhetorical elbow at Finance Chair Seaton, saying that while he had many duties, being chief science researcher was not one of them.

Saddler’s remarks drew a gentle rebuke from House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, who implied he was getting too personal.

Rep. Chris Birch also spoke to strip the D study from the budget: “We don’t need a $500,000 science project to tell us we live in a northern latitude, and that Vitamin D is not aplenty when there’s no sun exposure. I think that’s common knowledge. It’s certainly one of the reasons why I take a multi-vitamin every morning.”

In the end, after 45 minutes of debate,  a $500,000 item to study Vitamin D was left in the budget in a vote that was nearly along party lines, with only Reps. Jason Grenn and Sam Kito splitting from the Democrat-led majority and siding with Republicans to trim the sails of Seaton’s obsession with cholecalciferol, Vitamin D.

Groups forming to back candidates, causes

Suzanne Downing
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Groups forming to back candidates, causes

A host of new campaign influence groups have formed in recent weeks to push the candidates and causes they care about. Those organized and funded efforts attempting to sway voters must register with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, and their communications are highly regulated by APOC, (a cause of concern to strict constitutionalists who believe in First Amendment protections of political speech.)

Two of the recent groups are focused on supporting law and order: Stop Alaska Crime and Repeal SB 91.

Group registrations since March 1 add to several others already formed since the first of the year. They’re listed with their name and the wording of how they describe their intent and activities:

ABC Alaska PAC – ABC believes that companies should reward employees based on performance and encourage them to reach their highest level of achievement, and that contracts be awarded based on safety, quality and cost effectiveness – regardless of labor affiliation.

Alaska Federation of Republican Women – Engaged in Anchorage Municipal races and state General Election.

Alaska Free Market Coalition – To promote candidates who are fiscally conservative, pro-business, and supportive of free market economic principles.

Alaska Ironworkers Political Action Committee – Increase employment of Union Ironworkers in the state of Alaska.

Alaska Libertarian Party – The ALP is a political party dedicated to legal and peaceful reduction in the size and power of government.

Alaskans for Kevin Meyer – Assist in providing the State of Alaska with a qualified Lt. Governor.

Alaskans for Scott Hawkins – To independently support the candidacy of Scott Hawkins in the 2018 Republican Primary for Governor of Alaska. (Started by a group based in Ketchikan.)

Alaska’s Southcentral Federated Republican Women – Educate, inform and support the electorate.

Anchorage Education Association Public Affairs Committee on Education – To promote public education.

Alaska Women for Political Action – Electing progressive women candidates to political office and educating women on issues important to them.

Fair Anchorage No on Prop 1 – To oppose any effort to repeal or weaken Anchorage’s nondiscrimination ordinance. We know Anchorage is a welcoming place to live, work, and play, and that discrimination isn’t an Anchorage value: that’s why we need to keep Anchorage fair.

House District 24 Democrats – Southwest Anchorage – Subdivision of AK Democratic Party for HD 24, promoting Democratic ideas and principles in southwest Anchorage.

Kodiak Democratic Party – Elect Democrats / Independents.

Mat Su Democrats – A unified group of Democrats of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and those who reside in precincts of any district which has any portion of its boundaries within the Borough. A subdivision of the Alaska Democratic Party and listed as such in its Party Plan of Organization.

Midnight Sun Republican Women’s Club – To support the Republican Party’s ideas and to encourage women in politics.

Patriots Party of Alaska – Political group whose purpose is to field, and run/endorse candidates for public office in elections at all levels of government as allowed by law.

Public Employees Local 71 Supporting League – Union candidate and supporting fund.

Repeal SB 91 – To oppose political candidates who do not support the repeal of SB 91 crime bill. (Formed by Deb Brollini.)

Stand for Alaska – Protecting salmon, jobs, and communities. (Formed earlier, needed to change the type of group it is due to the ballot proposition that has since been approved that it will be opposing.)

Stop Alaska Crime – Bring people together to fight for stricter penalties for crime. Work together to improve safety in communities.(Formed by Vicki Wallner, who runs a popular Facebook Page, Stop Valley Thieves, and a new associated Facebook page Stop Alaska Crime.)

Tongass Democrats – Precinct level branch of Alaska Democratic Party. Fundraise locally for Democratic candidates and causes.

Yes for Salmon – To promote the passage of a ballot measure to update salmon habitat regulations. (Was earlier formed as “Stand for Salmon,” changed the group name and the type of group it is due to the ballot proposition that has been approved that it will be supporting.)

DUNLEAVY FOR ALASKANS CLOSES IN ON $400,000

In February, a group of Alaskans formed a Dunleavy for Alaska committee, headed by Terre Gales, a former candidate for Anchorage Assembly. The APOC reports show it has more than $400,000 in contributions.

The group, independent and prohibited from coordinating with the Alaskans for Dunleavy campaign, has additional pledges and the cash in the door already includes a $5,000 check from a Wasilla individual to a $100,000 contribution from Mike Dunleavy’s brother.

WHERE’S WALKER’S POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE?

An outside group is said to be forming to support the candidacy of Gov. Bill Walker, with a hefty serving of public employee labor union support. But although the rumors of its imminent creation surfaced weeks ago, it has still not shown up on the APOC reports, leading some political wags to wonder if there’s trouble in the kingdom.

Donors may be hesitant until they see more polling results, as the ones completed to date show Walker in deep trouble with the electorate over key issues involving spending, the Permanent Fund, and quality of life.

There are several Democrat-affiliated groups that will support his candidacy in one way or another if Democrat Mark Begich does not jump in to knock Walker out of the running.

A recent survey by the Alaska Chamber of 809 likely voters statewide showed that the public still favors spending cuts rather than instituting an income tax — 72 percent supporting cuts to 26 percent opposing cuts.

The poll result confirms earlier polls and no doubt this is the same headwinds the Walker camp is encountering — if it is polling. Walker has proposed nearly a dozen new taxes and has said he cannot reduce state government further because it’s now cut to the bone.

An example of the public opinion that may be holding off the creation of the political action committee for Gov. Walker:

 

Kito to call it quits

Suzanne Downing
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Kito to call it quits

APPOINTED BY PARNELL in 2014, HE WAS A RELIABLE DEMOCRAT VOTE

Rep. Sam Kito III, who represents the most liberal district in Alaska — House District 33 — will not run for reelection, he told the Juneau Empire today.

District 33 calculates as a hard left neighborhood. In 2014’s primary election, it voted to repeal SB 21 by 78 percent of voters. SB 21 which was an oil tax reform measure that passed the House and Senate. Later in November of 2014, Mark Begich won 66 percent of the vote over challenger Dan Sullivan, who beat Begich statewide for his Senate seat.

And for governor that year, House District 33 went heavily for Bill Walker, enough to pull him over the finish line statewide, with 5,837 votes for Walker/Mallott to 2,857 for Parnell/Sullivan.

Kito was appointed by Parnell in February of 2014 after the departure of Rep. Beth Kerttula, who left for a fellowship and later to work in the Obama Administration on oceans issues. Assemblyman Jessie Kiehl and Catherine Reardon had also been recommended by local Tongass Democrats for the job.

Later that year, Kito won handily for reelection over Republican Peter Dukowitz.

The district breaks down into precincts covering other parts of northern Southeast Alaska:

33-500 Douglas
33-505 Gustavus
33-510 Juneau No. 1
33-515 Juneau No. 2
33-520 Juneau No. 3
33-525 Lemon Creek
33-530 North Douglas
33-540 Skagway
33-545 Haines No. 1
33-550 Haines No. 2
33-555 Klukwan

Kito has been publicly signaling that he doesn’t plan to run again, making it clear that a reduction in per diem for Juneau lawmakers would cause him to go in the hole financially. He makes $50,400 as a legislator and last year was paid $32,400 in per diem.

The State Officers Compensation Commission recommended eliminating per diem payments to lawmakers who live within 50 miles of the Legislature’s meeting location.

Legislators allowed the 60 days to pass during the current session when they would have had to reject that recommendation. During that time, Kito spoke during committee meetings and on radio shows about how that would impact him, as a single father trying to put a student through college. He has grown increasingly irascible and is sporting a long beard, unlike his previous clean-shaven appearance.

[Read: Kito says if per diem cut, he’ll likely not run]

Already Sara Hannan, a Democrat and retired school teacher, and Chris Dimond, an unaffiliated resident of Douglas Island who runs the local carpenters union, have filed to run for Kito’s seat, and there will likely be others who will file for the seat.

This year, Juneau will also lose its senator, Dennis Egan, who has said he is not running for reelection.

Juneau’s Rep. Justin Parish, who represents District 34 (Mendenhall Valley north) faces a serious campaign season against longtime police officer Jerry Nankervis, who has filed for that seat.

In short, Juneau and communities to the north could have a brand new team representing them next January, at the same time they are welcoming the next resident of the Governor’s House on Calhoun Avenue.

Services set for April Hackney

Suzanne Downing
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A celebration of life for April Hackney will take place Saturday, March 24, from 4-6 pm at the home of Gov. Bill Sheffield, 3125 Susitna View Ct, Anchorage, Alaska.

April was born April Lynn Newlun in Sitka, on Feb. 23, 1964, to Bruce and Lydia Newlun (Panamarkoff). She was of Tlingit, Russian, and Anglo heritage.

The well-known political consultant was half of the Hackney & Hackney agency. She died unexpectedly (and uncharacteristically) quietly on March 14, 2018. Her husband Art held her hand at Providence Hospital as she passed from this world.

April graduated from Sitka High School in 1982, and worked for the Forest Service before driving to Anchorage in 1985 in her Mustang, with only $100 in her pocket. She landed work with the Holden Hackney & Holmstrom advertising agency, where she rose from receptionist to administrative assistant to production manager to wife and business partner of company President Arthur Hackney. They married and formed the partnership Hackney & Hackney.

April was a shining light who had a powerful impact on every person she met – and she met people all over this planet. Whether it was a president, a senator or a person cleaning the streets in New Orleans, April wanted to know what made them tick. April had a way of coaxing stories from people that even their family members had never heard. April and Art remained business partners and best friends from the time they met until her death.

Her memory lives on in the countless community projects she supported, including Anchorage Town Square, Three Virtuoso’s concerts, Cyrano’s Eccentric Theatre, the Alaska Basketball Development Program and the Mayor’s Charity Ball. She served on George W. Bush’s National Finance Committee and was selected as a Whip for the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pa. As a major donor to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, April’s name is on a plaque in the Center’s courtyard in Dallas, Texas, at Southern Methodist University.

Her clients included Senators Ted Stevens and Frank Murkowski, Congressman Don Young, Mayor George Wuerch, many State Representatives and Senators and Assembly members, as well as some of Alaska’s largest businesses.

She dearly loved Art’s daughters Heather and Alexis.

April traveled widely. She petted a rhinoceros, helped remove a spear from the side of an elephant on the Laikipia Plateau of Kenya, swam with sharks and dolphins, rode camels, fished, zip-lined, hang-glided, kayaked, snorkeled, climbed tall trees and enjoyed life – a life that ended far too soon.

[Read: April Hackney, creative political force, has passed]

Chapter 7: Rogoff now says Dispatch owes her up to $23 million

Suzanne Downing
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Chapter 7: Rogoff now says Dispatch owes her up to $23 million

The owner of the Alaska Dispatch News — now defunct — has filed yet another bankruptcy claim against the entity of which she was the sole owner, and which she ran into the ground in three short years.

Alice Rogoff’s latest claim is for $7 million, and it adds to her first claim of $16 million that she says the dead newspaper owes her personally.

Rogoff wants to be paid before any of the other 28 creditors are made whole, but in reality there are no assets left to pay any of them, and the wealthy heiress has done something uncharacteristic of the other creditors: Rogoff and her lawyers have fought from having her personally responsible for paying the debt to her numerous creditors, of which she is the largest by far.

A reader could be forgiven for not understanding the difference between her and her failed entity. She mixed her personal finances and business dealings so much that it may leave her personally liable to pay the business’ debts. But that’s another story. Creditors had until midnight on Monday to file their claims against the Alaska Dispatch News in Alaska Bankruptcy Court.

Must Read Alaska looked into the list of creditor claims in the Chapter 7 liquidation proceedings filed since September and through the March 19 midnight deadline.

Many of the creditors in the Chapter 11 proceedings did not proceed with claims once the case was converted to Chapter 7, which is when the entity is seen as a total loss:

Municipality of Anchorage, Department of Law: $28,258.14

Air Land Transport Inc, Anchorage:  $12,788.41, for transportation services

Opti Staffing Group, Anchorage: $4,541.00, for services

United States Trustee, Seattle: $6,500.00, proof of claim

Monster Worldwide Inc., Wisc: $13,280.45, for services

Thomson Reuters (Markets) LLC: $8,725.40, for services

Alice Rogoff: $16,619,095.90, for money she loaned to the newspaper that she owned.

AdPerfect Dynamic Advertising Solutions Ltd, BC, Canada: $16,051.00, for services

Reed Brennan Media Associates, Inc, N.C.: $6,460.86, for goods and services

Catalyst Paper (USA) Inc., Irvine, Ca: $51,307.56, for goods sold

Arctic Office Machines, Arctic Office Products, Anchorage: $1,658.68, for goods sold

Frontline Construction LLC, Anchorage: $109,354.98, for construction services

Boot Country, Anchorage: $118.96, for worker boots

3150 C, LLC, c/o Robert Hume, Landye Bennett Blumstein: $715,490.63, for breach of lease

Legacy.com: $907.48 for services relating to obituary service subscription

Internal Revenue Service, Centralized Insolvency Operations: $24,461.94

TSI North America LLC, Bellevue, Wa: $12,500.00, for services

Arctic Partners, LLC, Tacoma, Wa: $2,446,425.82, for back rent

J. Birkett, Inc, Lebanon, Tenn: $265,376.00 for contract services

M&M Wiring Service Inc, Anchorage: $1,529,808.19, for improvements to the Arctic Partners building

Alice Rogoff, Anchorage: $7,000,000.00. This one is complicated. It’s a claim that is contingent and it’s in addition to a prior claim she has made for money she loaned to the dead newspaper.

This claim was filed by Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot c/o James Lister, Esq. Rogoff estimates the final range is between $900,000 and $7,000,000. The claim is brought in the event that Rogoff’s various shell entities lose in the lawsuit filed by her former business partner Tony Hopfinger, as well as other lawsuits and legal actions pending.

If she loses, she’ll be suing her dead newspaper for the amount owed. “The dollar amount of Rogoff’s claims for contribution and indemnification is not yet known because it depends on resolution of claims against Rogoff giving rise to contribution and indemnification claims on her part.”

 

 

“Mr. Hopfinger filed suit against ADP for the payment of severance, and has likewise sought to pierce the corporate veil of ADP in an effort to hold Ms. Rogoff personally liable. Case No. 3AN-16-07173 CI, Superior Court for the State of Alaska, 3rd Judicial District at Anchorage. Because the Employment Contract specifically states that if Mr. Hopfinger is terminated without cause he is entitled to six months of his “regular compensation,” which would have been his “regular salary” paid by Debtor Alaska Dispatch News, LLC, the Debtor would be the responsible party and obligor. A further factor is that ADP was at one point slated to become the direct owner of the Debtor, but then assigned the stock purchase agreement to AK Publishing, LLC, which became the direct owner. A copy of the Employment Agreement is attached as Schedule 4.

“Alleged contract between Tony Hopfinger and Ms. Rogoff, entered into in April 2014, whereby Ms. Rogoff agreed to pay Mr. Hopfinger $100,000 a year, over and above the salary paid by Debtor Alaska Dispatch News, LLC (ADN), with the understanding that Mr. Hopfinger would continue his employment with ADN and dedicate all of his time and resourced into making ADN a success. Mr. Hopfinger has filed suit against Ms. Rogoff for all payments allegedly due. Case No. 3AN-16-07173 CI, Superior Court for the State of Alaska, 3rd Judicial District at Anchorage. Because the contact was designed to benefit ADN, Ms. Rogoff has an equitable indemnity claim against ADN for any amounts that she is required to pay.

“Other contracts, leases, corporate documents, and instruments relevant to such other claims as may be asserted against Ms. Rogoff.

“If the contribution and indemnification rights discussed above are properly asserted by Ms. Rogoff’s entities Moon and the Stars, LLC or AK Publishing, LLC, rather than Ms. Rogoff, this claim is filed on behalf of those entities. Rogoff owns Moon and the Stars, which in turn owns AK Publishing, which in turn owns the Debtor Alaska Dispatch News, LLC.”

GCI Communication Corp: $174,768.37

GCI NADC LLC: $3,399,415.03

Northrim Bank: $731,100.00, for loans

John McKay: $81,501.65, for legal services

Law Offices of Cabot Christianson, P.C: $83,385.31, for legal services unpaid

Law Offices of Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot: $54,718.80, for legal services unpaid. Note that BHBC also is filing a claim on behalf of Rogoff for up to $7 million she is owed if she loses various lawsuits.

Law Offices of Michael R. Mills, Dorsey & Whitney LLP: $13,634.50, for legal services unpaid.

Tony Hopfinger, former business partner of Alaska Dispatch News: $950,000. This claim results from a personal guarantee that Alice Rogoff wrote on a bar napkin to Hopfinger as the two were getting a business divorce. The napkin is Exhibit A in his lawsuit against her, which has been delayed until November:

A contract on a bar napkin, signed by Alice Rogoff.

THE GRAND TOTALS

The claims total over $34.3 million, and of that, $23 million is what Alice Rogoff claims is owed to her by her bankrupted newspaper operation.

[Read:Alice Rogoff: Fraud, deception, reckless disregard]

[Read: The summer of Alice Rogoff’s discontent]

 

Groups band together to oppose Board of Fisheries nominee

Suzanne Downing
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Groups band together to oppose Board of Fisheries nominee

Gov. Bill Walker’s nomination of a Kodiak resident to the Board of Fisheries has hit a strong tide of opposition.

A letter to Alaska legislators opposing Duncan Fields was signed by 16 sports and outdoor groups this week. They object because Fields, a Kodiak commercial fisherman, would replace an Anchorage sports fisher on the board that they want to be balanced between competing uses for a treasured resource.

The groups said the seven-member board should balance not only regional representation but also have three members who have interests in commercial fishing, with three who have interest in sport and personal use fishing. One board member should represent the interests of subsistence users.

Duncan Fields, nominee to the Alaska Board of Fisheries

“This balanced approach has worked well for Alaska,” the groups wrote. “The appointment of Mr. Fields alters that balance and threatens a return to earlier times when commercial fishing interests dominated the Board with little regard for sport, personal use subsistence fishers.”

“With respect to Alaska Board of Fisheries appointments, it matters where people are from and where their experience lies. We urge you to keep the Board fair, equitable and balanced by Voting No on the confirmation of Mr. Fields to the Alaska Board of Fisheries.”

Those signing the letter of opposition included a wide swath of Alaskans that the governor and the Legislature will heed at their own political peril. They are the heads of the Alaska chapter of Safari Club International, the Alaska Outdoor Council, Alaska Wildlife Conservation Association, Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Council, Kenai River Professional Guide Association, Matanuska Valley Sportsmen, Southeast Alaska Guides Organization, Tanana Valley Sportsmen, Alaska Charter Association, Alaska Sportfishing Association, Chitina Dipnetters Association, Kenai River Sportfishing Association, Mat-Su Fish and Wildlife Commission, Southcentral Alaska Dipnetters Association, Territorial Sportsmen, and Tsiu River Coalition.

The Kenai River Sportfishing Association posted a link and sample letter that Alaskans can send to legislators directly from the organization’s web site.

The House Special Committee on Fisheries, chaired by Kodiak Rep. Louise Stutes, last night postponed a hearing on the nominee that was scheduled for today. Fields will likely get a friendly pass from Stutes because if confirmed, he won’t be able to run against her for the House seat she occupies. Fields has let it be known he intends to file for that seat and challenge her in the Republican primary.
Gov. Walker has had a tough time with his nominees to the Board of Fisheries since Board President Karl Johnstone resigned from the board after learning he would not be reappointed. His first failed appointee, Roland Maw, has been caught up in legal troubles after being accused of not actually being an Alaska resident and for taking Permanent Fund dividends wrongfully.
[Recommended reading: Salmon struggle]

Trigger happy

Suzanne Downing
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Trigger happy

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

The annual legislative shoot took place in Juneau on Saturday. The winning team was, once again, led by Sen. Peter Micciche, with marksmen Matt Gruening and Jerry Burnett on his team.

It was the 21st annual legislative shoot, sponsored by a loose knit group of sporting organizations and the Alaska Correctional Officers Association. The gathering takes place at the Juneau Gun Club and ADF&G Hunter Education Complex on Montana Creek Road, rain, snow or shine. This year’s shoot landed on a “Chamber of Commerce” day for shooting, with just a light overcast providing a glare-free range. Some 37 teams and 111 shooters participated, mostly legislators and aides.

Several readers forwarded the Juneau Empire (James Brooks) photo above to Must Read Alaska, with comments that Sen. Bill Wielechowski shoots in the same manner he legislates — looking backward, shooting forward, and finger curled on the trigger. Poor form.

For lessons, Wielechowski might want to pair up with one of the Legislature’s most capable shooters, Rep. Cathy Tilton, who did not participate Saturday due to a splitting headache. Here she is at target practice:

While most marksmen can only shoot accurately with one hand, the raven-haired lawmaker representing Chugiak-to-Wasilla’s District 12, is an ambidextrous shooter who would drop an assailant in a heartbeat — and keep her French manicure chip-free. (She’s also known as a straight shooter in the Legislature.)

Some of Tilton’s recent targets, first with left hand, then with right. Impressive.

 

And finally, the photo of Sen. Peter Micciche on Saturday, showing how it’s done:

 

Should a murderer go free? Help the parole board decide

Suzanne Downing
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53
Should a murderer go free? Help the parole board decide

(Editor’s Note: This is a guest column penned by the granddaughter and great niece of three murder victims in one of Anchorage’s most notorious violent crimes, which occurred in 1985. At the end, the author has a call to action for readers to send letters to the Alaska Parole Board asking that they keep the killer locked up.)

BY TAMERA LIENHART
GUEST WRITER

It was a lifetime ago, when a vicious crime happened that changed my life forever. In 1985, my grandparents, Ann and Tom Faccio, age 70 and 69, and my great aunt, Emilia Elliott, age 76, had their lives cut short, executed by Cordell Boyd and an underage accomplice, Winona Fletcher.

In April, the Alaska Parole Board will decide whether Boyd, who has served just one-third of his sentence, will be freed. Discretionary parole, it’s called.

The two murderers had long criminal histories in Anchorage; and had no association with my family, until they terrorized and shot three members of my family while attempting to rob them.

My grandparents and great aunt were like many of us in Anchorage: They were responsible citizens, small business owners, parents, grandparents, making ends meet, and paying taxes.

This fateful day started out like so many others. Tom and Ann Faccio and Emilia Elliot were at their home in east Anchorage, enjoying dinner and watching the news, when they answered the doorbell.

Someone was having car trouble and needed to borrow their phone. Who wouldn’t help someone in need?  Life for all of us was forever changed because my beloved family opened that door and offered to help.

FROM THE LEGAL FILES

Below are the facts of the case as outlined in one of the many legal briefs written after the murders:

       On April 22, 1985, W.M.F., age fourteen, and Cordell Boyd, age nineteen, forced their way at gunpoint into the house of Tom and Ann Faccio and Emilia Elliott. W.M.F. initially struggled with Mr. Faccio, age sixty-nine, during which her .22 caliber handgun discharged. Ms. Faccio, age seventy, entered the kitchen, where the disturbance was taking place. Boyd demanded money from Mr. Faccio and was given approximately $300 at that time. Boyd directed W.M.F. to find Ms. Elliott, age seventy-five, who was found in the garden and brought back into the house. Boyd and W.M.F. ordered the three victims to sit down on the living room couches. While there, Ms. Elliott pointed out to W.M.F. that she did not have a mask on, and W.M.F. became concerned that she could be identified. Boyd checked the living room for valuables and then went upstairs to obtain neckties from an upstairs bedroom in order to tie up the victims.

Boyd returned downstairs and directed W.M.F. to take Ms. Faccio upstairs because she appeared to be having a heart attack. While W.M.F. took Ms. Faccio upstairs, Boyd began tying up Ms. Elliott and Mr. Faccio. W.M.F. returned downstairs to retrieve her gun and then went back upstairs. While Boyd was tying up Mr. Faccio, a shot was heard from upstairs. Boyd ran upstairs to find Ms. Faccio kneeling at the foot of the bed praying. W.M.F. was laughing. W.M.F. had attempted to shoot Ms. Faccio in the head, but Ms. Faccio had ducked and the bullet had missed her. At that moment, Boyd looked downstairs and noticed that Mr. Faccio was getting loose from his bindings, so he immediately ran downstairs to finish tying up Mr. Faccio. While tying up Mr. Faccio, Boyd heard a second shot from upstairs. Boyd went back upstairs and found W.M.F. holding the gun over the body of Ms. Faccio, who had been shot in the head at a distance of three inches. W.M.F. later indicated that Ms. Faccio had been pleading for her life and W.M.F. had become angry and said, “Shut up, bitch” as she pulled the trigger. When asked why she had shot Ms. Faccio, W.M.F. indicated that it was because Ms. Faccio could identify her.

Mr. Faccio called out from downstairs, asking what was wrong. Boyd told him that his wife had just been shot, and Mr. Faccio started crying. Subsequently, both Boyd and W.M.F. went downstairs. W.M.F. walked directly to Ms. Elliott and shot her in the head, killing her. Boyd then obtained more money from Mr. Faccio, (approximately $400) and, according to W.M.F., Boyd proceeded to shoot Mr. Faccio twice, first in the chest, and a second time in the head to end Mr. Faccio’s misery. Boyd asserts that W.M.F. shot Mr. Faccio in the chest, and Boyd subsequently shot Mr. Faccio in the head to end his misery.

After the murders, Boyd and W.M.F. immediately left the house without taking any other property. They went to the nearby home of Boyd’s sister, dropping the murder weapon in the woods along the way.

MY GRANDPARENTS, TAKEN FROM ME

My grandparents were responsible people. They went to church and donated to charities. They did a good job raising their children, and an even better job spoiling their grandchildren.

They were very involved in our lives, coming to our events, we had family dinners together and I thought every grandpa smelled like garlic as it was in everything he cooked.  Even in our family with five children we all had special times with grandma and grandpa.

In the period of time since the murders, well-intentioned people have told me “Don’t worry, you will get over it in time.”

This is not reality. While we have learned to live with what happened, we do not ever “get over it.”

While other residents of Anchorage were understandably horrified that a crime like this could happen in our city, we alone were left cleaning up a house filled with bloodstains, bullet holes. We were left giving statements to police officers, and watching our backs, since no one knew who could possibly have done something so horrible.

A reward was offered to catch the murderers, and Winona Fletcher and Cordell Boyd were brought in after another criminal decided the reward worth it.

With no remorse, the two bragged to many about what they had done.  We were thankful they were taken off the streets and convicted of murder.  Originally, Fletcher was sentenced to 297 years in prison, but the courts later reduced it to 135 years. Cordell Boyd was sentenced to 99 years.

CORDELL BOYD COMES UP FOR PAROLE

On Feb. 22, I received a call from the prison saying Cordell Boyd will be up for a parole hearing on April 2, and I was asked if I wanted to be involved.

His sentence is now my family’s sentence.

The very fact that this hearing is happening takes me back to that awful day in 1985, as if it were yesterday and I was attending East High in German class, when my brother walked in with sunglasses on saying, “Come, you need to go with me. Something bad has happened.”

We raced across town as he struggled to find the words or the place to tell me about the horrific news that no one should ever have to tell another person.

Yes, it has been a long time, and the anger has subsided, but no one gets over something like this, and every time it comes up again, we have to relearn how to live with it all over again.

Random violence can impact anyone; rich, poor, educated or not. What does a sentence actually mean if convicted murderers only have to serve a one-third of their sentences?

Our community has a growing list of random, unassociated heinous murders in our recent memory — Robert Hansen, Israel Keyes, and Jerry Active, to name a few. Cordell Boyd is one of those killers.

OUR CALL TO ACTION

My late mother, Janice Lienhart, pioneered the victim’s rights movement in Alaska after my grandparents and great aunt were executed in cold blood.

She and my aunt, Sharon Nahorney, discovered the harsh reality that victims had no standing in the criminal justice process. They championed the creation of Victims for Justice, an organization that focuses on helping the victims negotiate the very confusing criminal justice system.

Because of their efforts, victims rights are now enshrined in the Alaska Constitution.

Today, I’m asking the community to step forward and, for the sake of all victims, speak out against the early release of a killer.

The Parole Board takes comments from the public. If you agree with me that Mr. Boyd should remain in prison for executing my grandparents and my great aunt, please write to the Parole Board.

The email address is [email protected] , and — importantly — make sure to copy your letter to the Office of Victim’s Rights at [email protected]

Sample wording for your letter to the Parole Board:

RE: Faccio Murders

Dear Alaska Parole Board;

I urge you to not release a murderer coming up for parole who has only served a small portion of his sentence.  Please do not release Cordell Boyd.

It only takes a minute, but your voice matters to the safety of our entire community.

Thank you.

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